Mail-bag



(No Model.)

0. F. LIGHTHOUSE.

MAIL BAG.

No. 459,869. Patented Sept. 22, 1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. LIGHTHOUSE, OF ROCHESTER, NEl/V YORK.

MAIL-BAG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 459,869, dated September 22, 1891.

Application filed March 3, 1890. Serial No. 342,453., (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. LIGHT- HOUSE, a citizen of the United States, residing in Rochester, in the county of Monroe, State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Mail-Bags, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to certain improvements in the construction of mail-bags,whereby their manufacture is cheapened and their durability increased. I

My improvements in mail-bags are represented and described in the following specification and accompanying drawings, and the novel features thereof specified in the claim annexed to the said specification.

In the accompanying drawings, representing my invention, Figure 1 is aside elevation of a mail-bag embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 represents the upper end of the bag in plan View. Fig. 3 is a central longitudinal section, on an enlarged scale, through one of the staples and the staple-plates. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the staples.

In the construction of my improvements in mail-bags I employ a series of staples A, through which the fastening-strap B passes, so as to secure the flap and close the bag, when the lock 0 is attached in the usual manner. The staples A are secured to the leather or canvas R, constituting the bag, by the staple-plates D D and the rivet E. The legs F F of the staple pass through the stapleplates in suitable openings, being reduced in diameter, so as to form shoulders to fit against one of the plates and riveted over outside the other plate, as represented in Fig. 3. The rivet E is located centrally between the legs of the staple and serves to secure the plates to each other and to the material of the bag independently of the legs of the staple.

. Any suitable mechanism may be employed for attaching the staplesto the bag. The

staple is firmly secured to the leather by the staple-plates and central rivet, it being nec= essary to tear the leather all around the margin of the plates in order to detach the staple from the bag, and even in case one of the legs of the staple should become loose in the riveting or be broken the staple will still be held in place by the otherleg and the central rivet.

A staple and staple-plates without the central rivet are defective in operation, for the reason that the staple affords leverage for the pull which is in practical use applied thereto. The riveting at the foot of the legs of the staple is therefore liable to become worn or broken, and in case one leg is loosened and withdrawn the staple is liable to swing about the other leg, and, besides getting out of place, it is likely to be entirely detached. To remedy this defect I provide a central rivet,which holds the plates in fixed relation longitudinally against the leverage of the staple-legs, which plates tend when the staple is pulled or canted sidewise to move in opposite directions lengthwise of each other. The plates are held by the rivet entirely independently of the staple-legs, and should one of the latter become loosened or detached from the leather it would be held in its proper plane by said rivet. I

I claim The combination, with the wall R of amail bag or pouch, of the staple A, having shouldered ends, the perforated staple-platesD D, located on each side of the Wall and extending along the wall between the legs of the staple, and the rivet E, inserted through the wall and staple-plates between the legs of the rivets, said legs being also riveted to the lower or inner plate, substantially as described.

CHARLES F. LIGHTHOUSE.

Witnesses:

GEO. B. SELDEN, C. G. CRANNELL. 

